I acknowledge that it is much later than May 2, my promised delivery date. My humblest apologies; next time I shall be better prepared. For now I present a belated and brief introduction to Buddhism.

History

Buddhism has its roots in the same Indian tradition that gave rise to Jainism and Hinduism. The oldest texts of this tradition, the vedas, were combined with new ideas of reincarnation and karma to become Hinduism. In Buddha’s time, Hindu gurus coexisted with other wandering ascetics who rejected the Vedic teachings. One of these mendicants became known as the Buddha.

The Life of Buddha

The man eventually known as Buddha was born as Siddhartha Guatama. There is as much fable as fact in the traditional story of his life, but it is accepted as historical fact that he was a prince born between 500 and 480 BCE. He became disillusioned after witnessing suffering and death for the first time, and gave up his wealth for the life of a wandering ascetic.

Guatama studied in the wilderness for six years, turning to extreme ascetic practices in his search for enlightenment. He was near starvation when he realized that exhausting his body would not help him achieve his goal. Instead he adopted a new course, known as the Middle Path. He accepted an offering of food, causing his companions to abandon him in disgust. Subsequently he sat under a tree and vowed to meditate there until he had attained Buddhahood.

Buddha spent the rest of his life teaching, starting with the monks who had abandoned him. He died of food poisoning at the age of 80.

Divisions

In addition to his spiritual teachings, Buddha provided rules on how the monastic community should be governed. He specified that there should be no one ruling person or institution, and as a result all monasteries were fairly autonomous, and variations in Buddhism have evolved as it adapts to different peoples or places.

Buddhism is now, like Christianity, an umbrella term for a family of religions that share some core beliefs but can vary widely in additional texts, beliefs, and practices.

Beliefs and Practices

Despite the divisions, there are still some beliefs that are fundamental to all Buddhist traditions. The first is the notion of anitya or impermanence; the fact that everything is changing and evolving. Buddha taught that a wise person should accept change and acknowledge that nothing lasts forever.

Expanding on the idea that nothing is fixed is the lack of belief in a permanent soul or identity. In Sanskrit this is known as anatman. Buddha rejected the Hindu belief in unchanging reality and immortal unchanging souls. Instead he claimed a person’s identity was composed of five different elements, which were themselves constantly changing.

The third major teaching about reality was that all life is suffering, due to the inherent impermanence of everything around us. This is not as fatalistic as it sounds, but merely accepts that a normal life cannot be truly satisfying, because even when you are happy, you know that things will change.

Four Noble Truths

Buddha’s thoughts on suffering are taught in his Four Noble Truths:

  1. All life is suffering
  2. Suffering is caused by desire
  3. Ending desire will end suffering
  4. Desire can be eliminated, along with suffering, by following the Eightfold Path

Buddha still believed in the religious ideas of karma and samsara (never-ending cycle of rebirth) that were prevalent at the time. Thus the Eightfold Path includes ways to eliminate bad karma and gain good karma in addition to ending desire and achieving nirvana.

The Eightfold Path

  • Right speech
  • Right action
  • Right effort
  • Right mindfulness
  • Right concentration (meditation)
  • Right belief
  • Right thought
  • Right livelihood

Gautama Buddha was a pragmatic man. This path was designed to be not high philosophy, but a practical approach to achieving enlightenment. From this list was later distilled the Five Precepts that I posted at the start of the month. I will elaborate in another post on the meaning of each step of the Eightfold Path

Texts

Because there are many different Buddhist traditions, it is hard to pick a singular text to refer to. A good source recommended the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra as containing fundamental Buddhist teachings that cut across most divisions in the Buddhist community.

How We Will Practice

In our lives as Buddhists this month, we will try to abide by the instructions of the Eightfold Path. At the very least this means following the Five Precepts as I laid out before. Additionally:

  • We will meditate regularly
  • I am going to be vegetarian, although both Michael and Andrew have decided against it. (Vegetarianism is admired, but not required in most Buddhist traditions)
  • We will visit local Buddhist temples to learn more from the monks

Resources For This Article

  • Molloy, Michael. Experiencing the World’s Religions, 4th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2008.
  • Trainor, Kevin. Ed. Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide. London: Duncan Baird. 2004.
  • UrbanDharma.org
  • Paul Crowe, Simon Fraser University
  • Diamond Sutra - A New Translation. Alex Johnson Productions.
  • Buddhist Studies. Buddha Dharma Education Association & Buddhanet